Future Hindsight

People have very little political power beyond voting on election day. Current governing structures are incapable of changing the world and solving the big problems that we fac…

Engaging in early and constructive dialogue between indigenous communities and corporations is crucial for success. Big companies involved in infrastructure projects th…

Video documentation of injustice and systemic abuse can be a powerful tool for holding offenders accountable. The key is to present and disseminate the video effectively an…

The purpose of civil discourse is to enhance understanding, not to change minds. It’s always helpful to have a diversity of ideas, understand different perspectives, and potenti…

Grassroots movements believe that change starts on the local level. Indivisible started with sharing a Google doc guide to empower everyday people to now having over 4,000 groups thr…

If a lawmaker has not yet made a firm decision on an issue, an in-person meeting has a ninety-four percent efficacy rate as an advocacy strategy. It’s important for const…

The Gathering excels at bringing coalitions together with a common agenda; rapid and urgent response to crisis situations in communities; organizing, like marching in protest to Wa…

The 1963 March on Washington was the first mass protest in America. Due to the anxiety around such a massive group descending on Washington, the March was carefully planned f…

This is a bonus episode from the Democracy Works podcast, which examines what it means to live in a democracy. Host Jenna Spinelle interviews David Frum, the author of Trumpocracy: The Corruption of …

We need representatives who truly represent the people by directly engaging with and listening to their constituents. Removing the power of political action co…

Welfare ceased being guaranteed after reform in 1996. Although the safety net for the working class was strengthened through tax credits, the safety net for those who are jobless d…

Hardship in America is common. In all of rich democracies, we have the highest rates of poverty among the elderly and also among children. In fact, the majority of Americans wil…

Because the foundation for all of life’s successes -- whether academic, social, or emotional -- is laid in the first five years of life, it is critically important to invest …

Although it is no surprise that picking an insurance plan is complicated, it turns out it is nearly impossible. A study by George Loewenstein at Carnegi…

The leading cause was cutbacks to federal funding for housing for poor people starting with the Reagan administration. In 1978, the federal governmen…

Max Kenner is the founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative, a college that is spread across six interconnected prisons in New York State. We discuss the enduring value of the libe…

Stephen Bright served as the director of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, and is currently a lecturer at Yale Law School, as well as professor of practice at Georgia State College of …